AEW notes: COVID-19 affects Dynamite; Jim Ross appears on Rampage

AEW was shorthanded for Dynamite on Wednesday.

Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that several wrestlers were not available for the show due to COVID-19.  

“There were a lot of people who were not available for the show because of Covid,” Meltzer said. “That’s why they did not announce the show until pretty much (Wednesday) other than Blood & Guts. They didn’t announce much of the show ahead of time because literally the show was being put together…”

Other than a Christian Cage promo, nothing was announced until late-Tuesday when Orange Cassidy vs. Ethan Page was made, followed by TBS Champion Jade Cargill vs. Leila Gray announced a few hours later.

“The show was being put together late because of fears and things like that. That’s why some of the matches, besides the Blood & Guts match, the matches themselves are not exactly the usual… you know, Jade Cargill and Leila Grey, although there was a reason for that as it played out,” he said.

Meltzer didn’t provide a total number of talent affected. The post-Dynamite Rampage taping featured a battle royal for a future interim World title shot in addition to a Young Bucks match, so it’s unclear how much COVID-19 truly affected the Wednesday lineup.

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Dynamite also had a different feel in the announce booth as Jim Ross wasn’t present for the first hour. Taz instead took the third man role, later joined by Ross for the second hour’s Blood & Guts match along with William Regal.

Meltzer said that Ross was present for the Rampage taping which is also a change as that booth is manned by Excalibur, Taz and Chris Jericho.

He speculated that they may be doing an experiment where Ross does the second hour of Dynamite and then does Rampage. 

It’s also likely that Ross was simply replacing Jericho in the booth for the week due to selling the Blood & Guts match. Jericho will be off next week’s Dynamite/Rampage as he is in London for a Q&A/meet & greet event.